An equity score of 77/100 ranks South Delta School District #13 of 146 districts in Mississippi (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,904 per pupil, South Delta School District ranks #12 of 148 Mississippi districts by per-pupil spending (Mississippi districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
604
Total Enrollment
3
Schools
$16,904
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
South Delta School District operates 3 public schools serving 604 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Mississippi. The school portfolio breaks down into 1 combined, 1 high, 1 middle schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Sharkey County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,904 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 15 of 148 Mississippi districts by per-pupil spending. See how Mississippi compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 32.4% local, 38.9% state, and 28.7% federal, a balanced mix across local, state, and federal sources, spreading budget risk across funding cycles rather than concentrating it in one. The district's equity score is 77/100, ranked #13 of 146 in Mississippi against a state average of 51, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 3 schools offering Advanced Placement (1 AP courses district-wide), a 182.7:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 36.6% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 89.7% African American, 0.2% White across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is South Delta Middle School, with a diversity index of 42.7/100.
Its largest campus is South Delta Elementary School, enrolling 234 students (43% of the district's total enrollment).
South Delta Elementary School accounts for 38.7% of all South Delta School District student enrollment
That dominant concentration means South Delta School District-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade band: combined. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how the district allocates programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.
South Delta School District reports 100.0% free-lunch eligibility
The reported share is above 87.5%, so economic need is widespread across the measured student population. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.
South Delta School District student-counselor ratio is 183:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
South Delta School District chronic absenteeism rate is 36.6% — high (typically associated with higher-than-average disruption; recent CRDC data showed elevated rates persisting after pandemic-era schooling changes)
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.